Movie Mourning

It was only a matter of time before Philip Roth's intensely explicit short novel, The Dying Animal, was brought to the big screen. Elegy, the film adaptation directed by Isabel Coixet, brings out the big guns with Academy Award nominees and winners filling the complicated shoes of its four main characters. Ben Kingsley, looking all kinds of svelte and handsome at 65, plays celebrated literature professor (and closet womanizer) David Kepesh. When Consuela--a sexy Cuban-American grad student played by Penelope Cruz--waltzes into class, he does what any self-respecting, educated man would do. He falls head over heels and becomes completely obsessed with her. Who wouldn't? Either Professor Kepesh has lottery-winning luck or Consuela is just as interesting as she is beautiful, because before long an erotic, unstable relationship begins. Throw in Oscar nominees Patricia Clarkson and Dennis Hopper, and you can count on character studies that do the novel justice. One of the quieter releases of this year, Elegy is playing Friday through Sunday as part of The Magnolia at the Modern (3200 Darnell St. in Fort Worth), an ongoing series featuring critically acclaimed films. Tickets are $8.50 or $6.50 for Modern members. Advance sales begin two hours prior to each show. For more information visit themodern.org/magnolia.html.
Fri., Oct. 17, 6 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 18, 5 p.m.; Sun., Oct. 19, 2 & 4 p.m., 2008